China National Energy Administration and IEA meet in Paris

Nur Bekri (Nuer Baikeli), Administrator of China National Energy Administration, and Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, held a bilateral meeting on 18 November at the margins of the IEA Ministerial meeting and discussed the issues of mutual interest and concerns.

Nur Bekri and Fatih Birol both highly appreciated the excellent level of cooperation between China and the IEA and jointly expressed the common desire to further upgrade the strong relationship between the two. In this regard, both welcomed the joint workshop on IEA-NEA Policy dialogue on Oil and Gas Development in Beijing on 25 November 2015.

Prior to the meeting, they signed the Joint Statement between China and the IEA, featuring the joint programme and activities to be implemented during the period of 2016 - 2017.

Among the issues they discussed, Bekri and Birol shared the view that exploring the possibility of developing a joint centre as a vehicle for enhancing future cooperation is one of the viable ways to further deepen and broaden the relationship for mutual benefits. Both agreed to start a consultation process at the working level for the follow up discussion. They also shared the view that ongoing personnel exchanges between the National Energy Administration and the IEA is mutually beneficial.

During the meeting, they also welcomed the progress made in China-IEA co-operation in areas of energy security, energy policy dialogue, renewables, energy efficiency, energy data and statistics, energy technology and beyond.